Tense in the first sentence

Question

Despite studying some references given to me by Maarten, I still erred in choosing the wrong past tense for the translation of "Hi Charlotte, have you been following the Cannes Festival this year?".  I interpreted 'has been following' (past progressive, I think, in English) as a continuing action throughout the year, hence imperfect tense.  If you had said " Did you follow the Cannes Festival this year", I think I would have chosen passé composé.   Still a bit confused.

Céline Pickard · Accepted Answer

Bonjour Frank,
That's an excellent question!
In French, the equivalent of the English Perfect Continuous is Le Passé Composé. If you had L'Imparfait, it would refer to a repeated action. However, you cannot repeat the action of "following".
I hope this is helpful.
Bonne journée !